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The English Premier League’s inception over 20 years ago was made possible because of money. It has managed to become the most popular and most watched league in the world, because of money.
Some of the best players in the world have joined the top clubs in England because of, you guessed it, money.
New ownerships and TV rights have allowed all clubs across the first division to strengthen their squads promote their name across the world. While this is all good and well, the amount of money being spent in the transfer window is damaging clubs’ potential success, especially in the Champions League.
Just last week, on the exact same day, Manchester City signed Kyle Walker for $65 million and AC Milan miraculously were able to obtain the signature of the best centre back in the world in Leonardo Bonucci for $45 million.
The transfer market has officially gone mad, but the Premier League has allowed it to become that way.
Using Manchester City as an example, they have kept spending unnecessary millions on players that are particularly average such as John Stones ($62 million), Eliaquim Mangala ($41 million) and Raheem Sterling ($64 million).
They are a club who thinks that throwing money everywhere for fun will solve the problem and help win important trophies such as the Champions League. Well that hasn’t worked. There has been no plan put in place for the future.
Last year, Manchester United spent nearly $300 million for reinforcements such as Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, but played unattractive football which led them to finishing sixth in the league. Instead of spending $105 million on Paul Pogba, United should have used that money for multiple other players to build a better squad.
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Its the same story for Liverpool. They have spent way over the top for strikers that have turned out to be flops such as Andy Carroll ($46 million) and Christian Benteke ($42 million), and they are on the verge of signing an unproved defender Virgil Van Dijk for around $70 million.
Everyone knows that Liverpool’s main problem has been the backline, so that money should have been better spent on a goalkeeper, a left back and a couple of high quality centre backs.
Juventus is a great example for Premier League teams to follow for building a team without needing a massive budget. They were able to sign some quality free agents such as Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba, Dani Alves and Sami Khedira which has helped them achieve six league titles in a row and have reached two Champions League finals.
Their scouting system has proven to be a success, the most obvious big signing being Paulo Dybala for $47 million which is now seen as a bargain. Manchester City turned down the chance to sign him in favour of another flop in Wilfried Bony. Just let that sink in.
Even AC Milan are proving to build a solid team with the same budget as the big clubs in England. Some of the signings haven’t really caught the eye of everyone, but they have put a transfer strategy into place with the right scouting network in order to bring the club back up.
Since 2009, both Manchester clubs have spent a combined $2.3 billion on players alone, but it has come without any success in the Champions League.
It shows that football is not all about money to succeed. There are many other ways in building a team to reach the top.
Spending money is what has to be done in the modern game in order to reach certain goals and objectives, but the Premier League goes way overboard and just throw money down the drain. The huge price tags are also the reason why potential superstars have flopped because of the pressure and expectations put on them.
Kyle Walker ($65 million)….Leonardo Bonucci ($45 million)
It sums it all up.
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